Page 20 of Fated In Forever (Nocturne Vampire Clan #4)

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“ F uck .” For a second the word echoed so loudly inside my head, I wondered if I’d cursed aloud.

All around us silence ruled the pitch black, where even our breathing disappeared into the heavy emptiness, like every part of us was being absorbed by the mountain around us.

“Fuck. We need light.”

Brightness flared, so fast and so brilliant, I squeezed my eyes closed, and only saw spots.

“Sorry,” Riordan muttered. “Too fucking much. Where the fuck are we?”

“Another tunnel, from the looks of it.” That was Finn, and when I opened my eyes, I did a quick head count—Finn, Rohr, Nash and Nikolai, and a pale-looking Brendan, lying on his back against a pile of tumbled stone.

“Where the fuck did Evie go? And Malachi? And that fucking room from hell?” I spun, taking stock of the cracked walls, the blocked corridor behind us.

“They were right here.” I stared at the blank wall and a moment—a split second—of mindless panic flared, that irrational fear of being trapped and buried alive.

“What the fuck happened to Evie?” I ran my hands over the rough wall, but the entrance to the round chamber was gone.

Where there had once been a carved archway, there was now only a wall of solid rock, smooth and cold and trembling beneath my palms, like this entire mountain was about to come down around us.

“We have to break through this wall.” I said, giving Brendan a hand up.

“We dematerialize out. Regroup, use their heat signatures to pinpoint them.” Finn decided, pulling a small black device out of his pocket. “I’ve got two experts outside who are already tracking us…”

“We’ll do no such thing,” Riordan interrupted, hands balled into fire-covered fists. “Evangeline is right on the other side of this wall and we’re not leaving her.”

“We have no idea where she is.” Finn argued. “Because we have no idea where we are. We start from the beginning, use the tech we have on-scene, and retrace our steps.”

“There’s no dematerializing out.” Nikolai said quietly.

“Whoever…or whatever herded us down here, doesn’t want us escaping that easily.

” He studied the blocked corridor, then turned the other way.

“This entire tunnel system is designed as a trap. What did you say the name of Ravok’s thrall was? Not the Silverwoods…the other one?”

“Romulus.” I didn’t trust the too-still way the Elder held himself, his steady calmness in the face of my panic. The way he’d been following along, more as an observer, less of an active participant. I gathered my magic, intending a short jump to test his claim, only to find…he was right.

“We can’t dematerialize.” A clearly frustrated Nash muttered. “Something is dampening my power.”

“This is like before.” Riordan whispered. “When they kept us from reaching Evie in time.” His eyes met mine. “Which means they knew we were coming.”

“ They don’t know everything.” Finn whipped out a satellite phone, flipped it open. “Give us our location, and how close we are to Evangeline and the main target.”

Some static, and then… “Less than fifty feet, directly to your north. Looks like you’re separated by solid stone. I’m not seeing any clear openings or passages.”

“So Ravok, or Romulus, or this fucking place itself, separated us from Evie.” I narrowed my eyes at Finn. “How the fuck do you know where Evie is? Did you tag her?”

The bastard nodded without a shred of guilt.

“Put a tracker in one of the buttons on the clean shirt Aisling gave her. Figured if we got separated, I’d better be able to find her, or you two assholes would kill me.

I knew the big guy wouldn’t let her out of his sight, so I didn’t bother tagging him. ”

“Ravok’s here.” Riordan’s eyes met mine. He’s with her. And Malachi. You know he is.

In that fucking room. Is he planning to finish whatever he started?

Hard to say, but we have to get the fuck out of here and back to her. Fast.

“Ask your spotter to map us a way to Evie.” I finally said, studying the pile of boulders blocking our way. “Let’s hope it’s that way,” I hooked my thumb over my shoulder, toward the open, darkened end of the passage.

My heart raced during the too-fucking-long back and forth on the radio, then Finn shook his head. “Only way is through this cave in, and he says there are at least two more. But that other way only leads down, so deep he can’t tell where it ends.”

Fortunately, the only magic we couldn’t use was dematerialization.

We could move the rocks just fine, blasted apart with fire, rolled away with my shadows, even vanished into thin air with whatever magic Nikolai possessed.

We had barely broken through to the other side when then the ground beneath us trembled, a presence stirring in the darkness behind us at the far end of the corridor, and I knew to my bones who it was. I drew my knife, and Riordan did the same.

“Someone’s coming,” Nash muttered, drawing his blades. We put the pile of cleared rubble to our backs, Riordan casting a ring of fire that illuminated the tunnel for a hundred empty feet.

And we waited.

The pressure in the air thickened, darkened. Magic folded in on itself, made even more wrong when Romulus stepped out from a swirl of black shadows, his one good eye bright with anticipation, his smile carved from cruelty.

Half his face was still marked from my shadows—which somehow hadn’t killed him—charred skin disappearing down his neck into his shirt.

“What a gift you have brought me,” he said, stretching his arms wide. “More bones to join the ones already down here, and an Elder. I cannot wait to taste your magic. I do hope you fare better than your brethren.”

Nikolai simply dipped his head and took a step forward, so he and I were shoulder to shoulder,

Go. Find Evie. I told Riordan. Take Nash and Brendan with you, then keep going until you reach the next cave in. We’ll hold this fucker off.

Riordan opened his mouth to argue, but Nash pulled him away. Finn slapped the satellite phone into my king’s palm, whispered some final instructions, then shoved him and Brendan into the darkness.

I sensed Rohr slip away, past the tumbled pile of stone, off into the dark, but his flames still burned, brighter now as Romulus’s shadows— my fucking shadows he stole —faded.

“Go back to whatever hole you crawled out of,” Finn growled.

Romulus tilted his head. “I think not. You see, this mountain is a tomb. Or rather, it is about to become yours.” He raised a hand, and the tunnel behind him collapsed with a roar, sealing that exit off in a storm of dust and stone that would have choked the air out of our lungs, if I hadn’t thrown up a wall of magic and sealed us off.

“That’s fucking handy.” Finn spun one of his knives on his finger. “How do you want to do this?”

“He’s stronger than he looks, and the bastard can mimic your magic, so as soon as you cast, he’ll throw your power right back at you, so make sure you have a clear shot.”

“Well, see, my magic’s more up here.” Finn tapped his temple with a wink. “I’m more of a stab and ask questions later sort of male, as Ash likes to point out.”

I gave his knives a pointed look. “He can glamour weapons, too, real enough to cut. Do not underestimate him, or you’ll end up dead.”

“I will bring this mountain down on your heads,” Romulus’s voice was cold as he shredded through my shadows with a blade of some sort of luminescent magic. “And bury you all.”

“I’ve only ever met one other vampire who was a mimic,” Nikolai noted with faint curiosity as a cloud of gritty dust swept over us. “He can reproduce the effects of any magic? Even your shadows?”

“In disgusting detail.” I assured him, sending another wave to seal off the opening so we could breathe again. “He’s unbeatable, because he’s too adaptable. The closest we came was Eldric’s dragon fire. He didn’t seem to be able to reproduce that.”

“Because he’d need the right blood.” Nikolai said cryptically. “Why did we leave Eldric back at the castle?”

“Because he’s a giant pain in my ass and usually of very little help.” I muttered. Just like you, as it turns out. I swore Nikolai’s lips turned up in a smile and it occurred to me that perhaps Elders could read even the best shielded mind and perhaps I should keep my thoughts to myself.

Romulus grinned. “Let us get this over with. I missed my Master’s ritual last time, dealing with you lot, I have no wish to miss Malachi’s punishment a second time.”

He raised his hands, but we struck first. There was nothing between us but dust filled air, and my aim was perfect, a sharpened cloud of death spiraling right for his heart, along with Finn’s knives. Three deadly, perfectly aimed weapons. No chance of evading the blow.

Romulus flicked his hand.

And mimicked them all.

Shadow swallowed shadow, I ducked as a knife whizzed past, Finn cursing as a copy of his blade clattered onto the rocks behind us. “That fucker.” We tried another tandem attack, but every spell, every strike, every tactic we used, he turned against us.

“I was made for this,” he said, stepping through the spent cloud of our spells.

“My Master taught me only one trick, and I learned it well.” His eyes gleamed with pride.

“Fight me long enough, and your magic will become mine. Yours .” His brown eyes narrowed on Finn.

“His. Even the Elder back there, trying so hard to be indifferent. I will steal his power, too.”

My blood ran cold.

“You're lying,” I snapped .

Romulus gave a slow, mocking smile. “Are you sure? I’ve lived a long time.

Faced many enemies. Known many magics.” He held out his hand and fire bloomed like a rare flower.

Blue, like Evie’s eyes. Then red, then green.

Flames became shadow, then water, then smoke.

“While you scramble through the dirt and ruins, trying to save your doomed queen—and Evangeline is doomed—I fight for the future my Master has already foreseen. There are no surprises, only sureties.”

Nikolai had gone perfectly still, watching Romulus with his head cocked, as if he were listening to something I couldn’t hear. Well, the fucker needed to stop listening and start fighting, or we were going to all die down here.

“My queen is not doomed .” This time, my shadows were a crushing wall of black, and all around us, walls trembled, stone cracked, the tunnel becoming a storm of clashing magics.

Sparks rained down, along with dirt and rock.

I barely dodged a matching wave of darkness that tore a crater in the floor.

“We can't beat him,” Nikolai murmured. “Not like this.”

“No, you won’t.” Romulus raised a hand again—a final blow, meant to bury us down here.

Where are you? I asked Riordan. Tell me you’re close.

We’re getting there. Using the phone to navigate, but it’s slow going…too much rubble…we’re clearing another cave in.

Keep going. We’re gaining ground on Romulus. An errant blast screamed over my head, collapsed more of the ceiling, trapping us in this closed space together. Should be joining you soon.

I was planning to spin another lie, when Finn looked at Nikolai and something passed between them. A silent agreement that had my gut twisting.

Finn drew back his arm to throw again, Nikolai summoned a plume of fire, and even though I thought I might be hallucinating, glowing blue runes danced down his arms, shining with an iridescence I’d never seen before.

The resulting blast shook the corridor.

Power and steel surged outward, a fusion of two incompatible forces that became something else entirely—a weapon forged from pure magic that struck Romulus square in the chest.

He flew backward, crashing into the far wall with a sickening crack, buried under a storm of shattered stone. Silence.

The three of us panted, choking on dust, tendrils of rampant magic twisting in the air before they slowly faded away to nothing.

Romulus did not rise, crushed beneath a cascade of stone, only his head and one arm and shoulder showing. His skull was caved in, he wasn’t breathing. Dead. Could the bastard really be dead?

“We should really cut his head off.” Finn fingered the edge of his knife as he eyed Romulus, one foot already braced on the pile of rock. “Just to be sure. One less enemy, in case he survives…that.”

“We have to go.” I urged. “We’ve wasted enough time.”

But Nikolai crouched down to get a closer look at Romulus. “He looks a bit like him, don’t you think?”

“A little.” Finn agreed, sheathing his knife. “Around the eyes. And that hooked nose, couldn’t mistake it for anyone else.”

“What are you two talking about?” Then I ground my teeth together, because it didn’t matter. “We’re wasting time. We need to be up there,” I threw my hand toward the cave in. “Trying to reach Evie, stopping whatever the fuck is happening in that room. ”

“Romulus is related to Magnis. A mage.” Nikolai tipped his head to the other side. “The mage who nearly killed my mate and destroyed our clan. They share the same magic. But why is he here? What is Ravok planning?”

I grit my teeth together. “If we get the fuck out of here, you can ask him yourself, because he’s with Evangeline, and fuck knows what he’s doing to her right now .”

“We seal him in here, in case he does wake. He’s too dangerous for us to take any chances.” Nikolai decided. “Come, we’ll join the others.” One blast of fire melted a hole straight through the cave in, and I shook my head.

“You couldn’t have done that earlier?”

“Nikolai’s not exactly known for being a team player.” Finn elbowed me. “But he’s learning. A work in progress, you might say.”

I coated the steaming hot rock with my shadows, and we crawled through, one at a time. The air on the other side was cooler and infinitely more breathable, and we watched as Nikolai melted the pile into a solid sheet of magma. A tomb Romulus would never escape.

Then we raced into the darkness, to catch Riordan.